The Italian project BIOCOSI (BIOdegradable and COmpostable packaging for sustainable, circular and smart industry) has come up with a revolutionary solution to the problem of wastewater in the dairy sector.
On 15 and 16 April 2021, participants representing governments, international organisations, the private sector, knowledge institutions, and civil society convened for the virtual World Circular Economy Forum + Climate (WCEF+Climate) hosted by the Netherlands and The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.
As the Horizon 2020 research programme becomes Horizon Europe, what better time to witness how great ideas turned into real projects? LOOPS will be the opportunity to show the resulting cutting-edge research, and the change it can bring to our communities. The 22 April episode will focus on smart and circular composite materials.
New sustainable packaging will extend guacamole’s shelf life by 15% thanks to labels and additives extracted from the avocado itself. The GUACAPACK Project aims to use renewable sources to develop an innovative biodegradable packaging system that includes barrier labels and antioxidant additives from avocado waste.
Energy efficient bubbles, solar-powered interceptors, new business and design models, smart collection solutions, high-tech and fully automated sorting practices and chemical recycling technologies: the Dutch initiative provides inspiration and innovation insights linked to a circular economy for global application. Only by international collaboration will we achieve sizeable success as the plastics value chain spans the globe.
With this brochure, Holland Circular Hotspot and TNO bring their insights to the international level and share best practices with the hope that it will inspire everyone around the world to take action and kickstart circular development.
Fishing industry by-products and municipal solid waste are transformed into bioplastics in the European DAFIA project, coordinated by AIMPLAS. DAFIA provides the automotive and food packaging industries with sustainable solutions by developing biopolymers, flame-retardant additives and barrier packaging.
Sitra commissioned this study to investigate whether and under what assumptions and policy measures the decoupling of CO2 emissions from economic growth could occur at a sufficient rate for CO2 emissions to decline to net zero by 2050. The analyses were carried out on a global level.
The results of this study show that deep CO2 emission cuts in line with the 1.5 °C target and positive GDP growth can occur at the same time.
A natural next step would be to analyse in detail the decoupling of other harmful environmental impacts from economic growth. For example, a global shift to more circular business models could reduce CO2 emissions and help cut the use of materials and natural resources while maintaining economic growth.
The study The winning recipe for a circular economy by Sitra set out to find diverse circular economy solutions that are viable and scalable, that drive systemic circularity, and that have exceptionally positive environmental and social impacts. Over 200 organisations around the world submitted their solutions for consideration.
The study presents 39 outstanding examples of circular economy solutions that are closing material loops and driving the circular transition while being very relevant to their own environment. These solutions demonstrate the benefits of circular business operations and how different organisations across society can use circular thinking to improve the value of their business and progress towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Fjällräven is giving wool waste a second life by using it for innovative purposes, like padding in jackets or backplate in backpacks.
The Horizon 2020 project SUSTAINair was launched recently. It aims to research and develop solutions to increase resource efficiency and aircraft performance while cutting down on waste and material costs throughout the aircraft life cycle - what is known as "circular aviation".
SUSTAINair is an H2020-funded platform developing circular economy principles for the aviation and aerospace design, manufacturing, operations and end-of-life phases. This EU-funded research project aims to make the entire supply chain ecosystem greener, in line with the Circular Economy Action Plan, and to set new standards for aerospace manufacturing, enabling an increase in cross-sector synergies.
The SUSTAINair project provides the aviation sector with a path to a more cost-effective, low-carbon economy, while tackling the increase in resource consumption, waste and emissions. Because of this, the SUSTAINair project has been endorsed by the Future Sky research initiative of the Association of European Research Establishments in Aeronautics (EREA).
PlastiCircle Final Forum on 13 April will display technologies for the circularity of packaging waste.
Maersk has been developing ways to build recyclable ships that can be dismantled and reused.
Aerocircular provides green, service-only, economical end-of-life aircraft recycling and upcycling services to fleet owners.
The Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS) is organising a webinar on Durable, repairable and mainstream - how ecodesign can make our textiles circular. The webinar will take place online, on 20 April at 10.30 a.m. CEST. It will last around an hour, including a Q&A session.
On 11 May at 3 p.m. CEST, join Rijkswaterstaat, Madaster, Restado/Concular and Institut National de l’Economie Circulaire for online interactive workshops showcasing success stories and identifying challenges and opportunities in fields such as public procurement, digital logbooks and circular design for infrastructure work. Registrations are open!
On 15-16 April, the Netherlands and Sitra will be organising a high-level digital conference, the World Circular Economy Forum + Climate, to meet up and discuss the crucial role of a circular economy in achieving climate neutrality.
In the run-up to the WCEF+Climate event in April 2021, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is organising a WCEF+Climate pre-event: the Circular Climate Booster, hosted by Holland Circular Hotspot and Springtide International.
RREUSE welcomes the European Commission’s proposal to develop a favourable policy environment for social economy actors, calling for an ambitious Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP) that would provide a policy toolbox enabling a green, fair and circular transition in the post-COVID economic recovery. In order to establish a sustainable EU socio-economic environment and maximise the SEAP’s potential, RREUSE seeks to put forward the following recommendations on four priority areas:
RUCONBAR, developed in a project which ran from 2011 to 2014, is a highly absorptive, environmentally-friendly concrete noise barrier. It is an innovative mixture of recycled waste tyres and concrete which forms a porous, lightweight, sound absorbing panel.
RECOSI is a social franchise focusing on the reuse and refurbishment of ICT and WEEE.
CIRCit was a 3½-year research project, spanning the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Sweden. The objective was to help their industry to discover and implement the opportunities of the circular economy.
This project was part of the Nordic Green Growth Research and Innovation Programme funded by NordForsk, Nordic Energy Research and Nordic Innovation.
The project focus areas for the circular economy were:
The project webpage contains 101 circular economy case studies in the Nordic region and several scientific publications.
REC.ON creates its production by recovering auto parts. Using a unique upcycling process, they transform used, unwanted parts of automobiles into new, high-quality, functional pieces of design, adding style and an industrial aesthetic to any interior. Moreover, they have a unique process of acquiring their materials.
Re-Match has a recycling process for synthetic turf, recovering up to 95% of the materials, which is accredited with the EU’s Environmental Technology Verification. Their patented technology separates the sand, backing, rubber and plastic fibre from used synthetic turf. These materials can then be sold or used in a wide variety of new products in different industries.
